Soft 'crunching' feel when bending knee and running

Recently after runs (usually lasts 2-3 days) I have an agonising pain on the outside of my right knee when I bend it. Pain is worse when stepping off my right foot when wallking/running. Its right on the bony part and feels kind of crunchy / grindy, but not hard like bone on bone, its more of a soft material rubbing on that bony bit.

Any thoughts / advice?

Also had a tight right hamstring in the past couple of months leading up to this, could it be related?

From what you are describing, it could be a number of things - have you done anything recently ( twisted it in a funny way for example) that could have brought this on? If not, you are likely experiencing an overuse injury which is causing pain at your knee. As mentioned above, it could very likely be your IT band which is causing the pain on the outside of your knee. Alternatively, you could be experiencing something more related to patellofemoral pain syndrome - as that can sometimes create a grinding feeling/noise (crepitis) from your patella mal-tracking over your femoral groove. A tight hamstring can most definitely contribute to your problem, and it is likely more than one thing that is causing it ( also depending on how long its been going on for).

My recommendation to you is to figure out what caused your problem in the first place, oppose to just treating your pain. It may be that you just need to foam roll and stretch out your hips/hamstrings for a few weeks. Weak hip musculature can cause excessive biomechanical movements of the hips ( peak hip rotation, and collapse) which translate down into the knees and ankles. Alternatively, it could be caused from excessive pronation of your ankle.

I suggest that you go see a physiotherapist or have an analysis done to figure out the root cause to your problem. In the meantime, I recommend trying some basic core and gluteus medius (hip abduction) strengthening, in addition to foam rolling your IT band, stretching you hamstrings and your hip external rotators.

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